Category: Politics
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Disband the ObamaCare Wrecking Crew
By Peter Galuszka As the right wing echo chamber continues to crank up after the botched launch of the Affordable Care Act, here are a couple of items that direct us back to reality. One gives us a picture of how the U.S. really compares with comparable advanced countries with universal or near-universal coverage. The…
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GiftGate: And the Legal Bills Keeping Mounting
By Peter Galuszka The election is over. The transition teams are forming. And the GiftGate legal bills keep mounting. Taxpayers are now facing $575,000 in total charges, according to The Washington Post. These include $331,000 in fees charged in July, August and September by two law firms representing state employees in the Gov. Robert F.…
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Why McAuliffe Is Saying No to Uranium Mining
By Peter Galuszka Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe has made one of his first pronouncements and it is an important one: he will veto any law the General Assembly passes to lift the decades-long ban on mining uranium in Virginia. The bigger question is whether he was start disassembling the energy-industrial complex that outgoing Gov. Robert F.…
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Second Thoughts on the Shockoe Bottom Baseball Plan
by James A. Bacon I should have known: Mayor Dwight Jones’ plan to build a new baseball stadium in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom was too good to be true. Two days ago, I posted a generally up-beat appraisal of the proposal on the grounds that it would generate up to $187 million over 20 years while costing the…
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Bye-Bye Jonnie! Bye Star Scientific!
By Peter Galuszka Star Scientific is setting itself for a future without its high profile CEO, Jonnie R. Williams, a prominent figure in the Robert F. McDonnell GiftGate scandal. On Halloween, the Henrico-based dietary supplement maker announced that it will undergo a shuffle at the top. Williams will leave in December, clearing the way for Dr.…
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Your Way, My Way and the “Virginia” Way
By Peter Galuszka As usual, I am constantly amazed at “the Virginia Way” which means a kind of parallel universe of political reality that keeps the stay back in the 18th century, at least when it comes to political thinking. This morning, the editorial section of the ever-other- worldly Richmond Times-Dispatch has a front-page piece…
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GOP Road Kill
Among the more interesting election results from Wednesday, Democrats trounced three Republican candidates for Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. The county split close to even in the gubernatorial and lieutenant governor’s races, indicating that the Democrats sweeping to power in the board of supervisors rode were not riding on Terry McAuliffe’s coattails. The vote was…
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Thank God It’s Over: Seven Election Takeaways
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, LGBQT, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka The awful Virginia gubernatorial contest is over. Utter disaster has been averted with the defeat of strident rightwinger Kenneth Cuccinelli. Here are seven takeaways from Election Day: 1. Winner Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, now gets to deal with a contentious General Assembly where the GOP maintains firm control on the House of…
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How Will McAuliffe Govern?
by James A. Bacon Terry McAuliffe, the governor-elect of Virginia, has a tough job ahead of him. Democrats picked up only one seat in the House of Delegates, leaving Republicans with 66 seats, or a veto-proof majority. Most likely, he will have to work with a Republican, Mark Obenshain, in the attorney general’s office. He…
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A Pre-Election Reader
By Peter Galuszka Like many, I will be truly glad after Tuesday’s election. I don’t recall a more tedious, uninspiring campaign. At this point it seems obvious that Kenneth Cuccinelli is going down. E.W. Jackson hasn’t a chance and if any Republican makes it it will be Mark Obenshain for attorney general. Cuccinelli has always…
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The Birth and Death of “Miner’s Revenge”
By Peter Galuszka A couple of weeks ago, Scott, the photographer with whom I worked on my book on Massey Energy and the worst mine disaster in 40 years, emailed me to ask if I knew about a new Halloween amusement at Kings Dominion, the amusement park just off Interstate 95 in Doswell. Called “Miner’s…
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Why Virginia is a Bad Joke of a Democracy
By Peter Galuszka Ever wonder why Virginia is stuck with two unattractive gubernatorial candidates this election? It’s because the Old Dominion’s political structure is set up to limit voters interest, keep parties from developing deep benches of strong candidates and keep ‘em barefoot and pregnant hayseeds when it comes to having a professional legislature capable…
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At Last, a Transportation Plan from Cuccinelli
by James A. Bacon Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has unveiled his long-awaited transportation plan. It’s a mixed bag — it has some good ideas and some not-so-good ideas. But at least he has a plan. As far as I can tell, his rival Terry McAuliffe has articulated no transportation-related ideas beyond, “Build,…
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The Madness of Virginia Republicans
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka Virginia’s Republicans are posed to take big hits because of the infuriating deadlock in Congress over the budget and debt ceiling. The ones looking the worst are U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, and gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Cuccinelli. Both have played too hard to Tea Party anarchists whose scheme seems…
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Navy Lays on Small Fleet for Hanks Flick
By Peter Galuszka For dramatic five days in April 2009, four Somali pirates held the crew of the Norfolk-based container ship Maersk Alabama before escaping with Captain Rich Phillips in the ship’s international orange-colored lifeboat. It seemed a selfless and heroic act in the treacherous waters around the impoverished Horn of Africa. Among other supplies,…